2013-14 Minnesota Gopher Hockey Schedule Released

Per the Gopher Hockey Twitter account, the 2013-14 schedule has been released for Minnesota's inaugural season in the Big Ten:

2013-2014 Men's Hockey Schedule

A few thoughts on the schedule:

* The Gophers will open the Big Ten season at home against Wisconsin. Not surprising in the least, and I'd bet Michigan and Sparty are also squaring off meaning the fierce Ohio State/Penn State rivalry for the Land Grant Trophy (or something like that) will go that weekend as well.

* Make sure to read the fine print: what first appears as THREE game conference series played Thursday, Friday and Saturday against Sparty, Bucky and Michigan are actually not. The BTN- I mean B1G, just has the option of turning any one of those three series into a Thursday/Friday instead of Friday/Saturday series. Thursday night games for the BTN? You betcha, although we'd be well in B1G hoops season by then too. Also a chance to find out if the Friday malaise we've seen the past few years also applies to Thursdays.

* That's a pretty solid schedule of non-cons: road series at Noh-tra Dame and Bemidji, home series with BC, Duluth, and Mankato plus the Ice Breaker, Minnesota Cup, and Mariucci Tourney's. It's definitely not the WCHA, and never will be again, but there's a lot of good hockey on that slate.